Cook the Book | Old-Fashioned Strawberry Cake From 'Sweet Enough' by Alison Roman
Photography & Styling by Alison Engstrom
The grand hoorah of berry season has arrived. While eating in-season fruit straight from the plant or carton is always welcomed, folding them into vanilla-scented batter is also a close second. This recipe for Old-Fashioned Strawberry Cake comes from Alison Roman’s newest cookbook, Sweet Enough, dedicated to mostly sweets, with a dash of savory recipes for good measure. She describes this recipe as the closest thing to a donut cake since it has the same sort of cakiness as the morning treat straight out of the fryer. She then takes it up a notch by studding it with strawberries. The result is a delicious treat that can be adapted as the fruit season progresses.
old-fashioned strawberry cake
Slightly adapted from ‘Sweet Enough: A Dessert Cookbook’ by Alison Roman
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 eggs, at room temperature
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 quart strawberries rinsed and dried, preferably organic, or any other fruit like berries
Turbinado or sanding sugar
Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 inch cake pan or a spring foam pan with parchment or generously grease. Set aside.
Slice strawberries into desired size, but sliced into threes vertically was done here.
In a bowl fitted for a mixer, beat butter, sugars, and vanilla extract until it’s light and whipped, about five minutes. Add eggs one at a time, then add buttermilk. Add flour, baking powder, and salt slowly taking care to not let it splash out of the bowl. Mix until combined. Pour batter into prepared pan. Arrange strawberries on top and garnish with sugar. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until a knife can be inserted into the middle and it comes out clean. Let cool before enjoying!
What’s Different: The amount of sugar the recipe called for was 3/4 cup of both white and brown sugar. Preferring a less sweet cake, this was perfect. Also, she calls for mixing the dry ingredients, but to save on time, a.k.a dishes, it was added individually to the batter.
